SURF Security & Privacy Conference
Security & Privacy Award
Every year, SURF presents the Security & Privacy Award in recognition of contributions towards keeping or making our sector secure, open, accessible, privacy-friendly and reliable. The award is presented during the Security & Privacy Conference.
Hall of Fame
In the Hall of Fame, you will find all editions of the Security & Privacy Award. The winner is carefully selected by a jury comprising security and privacy professionals. They based their decision on nominations submitted by people working in education and research.
This year’s award goes to Anita Polderdijk-Rijntjes in recognition of her exceptional contribution to SCIPR, the security and privacy community in education and research. It honours her lasting impact on the sector through connecting people, knowledge and initiatives.
On 25 June, Anita received the award at the SURF Security & Privacy Conference.
2025 edition
Ewald Beekman, IT Security Officer at Amsterdam UMC, has received the SURF Security & Privacy Award 2025 for his many years of service as chair of SCIRT, the SURF Community of Incident Response Teams.
2024 edition
Martijn Bijleveld, Programme Manager for Cyber Security at MBO Digitaal, received the SURF Security & Privacy Award 2024 for his outstanding commitment to the MBO Cyber Security programme.
Previous editions
- Stijn Hoogervorst (2023)
- National Cyber Security Centre (2022)
- Maastricht University (2021)
- Jeffry Sleddens (2020)
Rules for nominations for the Security & Privacy Award
- You may nominate anyone who works in education and research at a SURF member institution. This could be a colleague, someone from another institution – or even yourself. SURF staff are not eligible for the award.
- The award is intended for an individual, not a team. Would you like to honour a team? Then nominate a key figure on behalf of the team, initiative or organisation in education and research.
- A panel of experts will assess all nominations submitted based on the information provided in the form. So please ensure your submission is complete and include any relevant links.
- All nominees will be contacted by SURF to inform them that they have been nominated and to ask whether they consent to their nomination.
The deadline for submitting a nomination is 24 April 2026.